“The only way that I would ever slow down would be for that reason,” the country music icon said during a radio interview
Dolly Parton is “not one to sit around doing nothing.”
The 77-year-old country music legend made it clear she has no plans to retire anytime soon.
“I would never retire,” she told Greatest Hits Radio host Ken Bruce on Thursday. “I’ll just hopefully drop dead in the middle of a song onstage someday, hopefully one I’ve written. But anyway, that’s how I hope to go because we don’t have much of a choice in that.”
“As long as I’m able to work, as long as my health is good and my husband is good, the only way that I would ever slow down would be for that reason,” she explained.
The “Jolene” singer then declared, “But in the meantime, I’m going to make hay while the sun shines.”
Since she rose to fame in 1967, Parton has solidified herself as one of the most iconic names in the entertainment industry and has dominated the country, pop and bluegrass music genres.
She also became a star on the big screen with notable roles in 9 to 5, Steel Magnolias and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and has gone on to produce her own projects over the years. In addition to her life as an entertainer, she is a philanthropist and joint owner of the Tennessee theme park Dollywood.
When asked by Bruce if there is anything she hasn’t done that she’d like to do, the multihyphenate said, “I have new dreams every day.”
One of those dreams is owning her own network television show where she could produce a series about her own life called The Life of Many Colors, for instance.
Parton said she wants to show “stuff that people haven’t seen or know or heard about and my people and where I come from, how I’ve got to be how and who I am, but to really have the behind the scenes and the adventures of my life.”
Those glimpses into her life would include the different bands she has worked with and “all the situations that can come from that — the bad, the good, the ugly, the different.”
In the meantime, Parton is gearing up to release her first rock album, Rockstar, on Nov. 17. It will feature collaborations with artists including Miley Cyrus, Sheryl Crow, Lizzo, Elton John, Chris Stapleton, Stevie Nicks, Sting, John Fogerty and more.
“I’m so excited to finally present my first rock and roll album Rockstar! I am very honored and privileged to have worked with some of the greatest iconic singers and musicians of all time and to be able to sing all the iconic songs throughout the album was a joy beyond measure,” Parton said in a press release.
She added, “I hope everybody enjoys the album as much as I’ve enjoyed putting it together.”